The Sea is Calling

wishus

Yes, @in_need_of_direction - conscious and clear relaxation is just as important.

Almost a week after the funeral and today is an anniversary - a sad one. One I have marked for over a decade with a glass of pinot grigio. However, I'm not well enough to today, I reckon. 

Scott_Weiland79

I have encountered the yoga idiots in a steam room before. The last one i laughed when he slipped on his !!!!!!. Its usual an idiot trying to impress women. Its dangerous imo and the places are places to relax. If it makes you uncomfy definitely chat with gym staff.

wishus

It has been a long time since I made an entry. New year, new focus. I am trying to get my current work done at a good pace so I can apply for more freelance jobs, as earning is a bit limited in this house at the mo. Husband lost his job, applied for more, got a successful interview, only trouble was they didn't want him to start for a month. Then a week ago, they told him the job was rescinded. We're more financially precarious than I'd like after huge vet and car repair bills happened at the same time, but we will be okay. 

So, a dry January and no-to-low spend month is on the cards. 

Very thankful for the local zero waste food hub as I just got a good load of mostly healthy groceries, just going out of date, and now all I need for the week is tea bags. Good opportunity to try out all the flowery teas I have stocked up first.

For £20 I got the following:

2 swedes
12 salad tomatoes
2 cauliflowers
2 broccolis 
9 bananas, mostly fairtrade.
8 shallots
2 aubergines
1.5kg carrots
2kg new potatoes
1kg long grain rice
6 wholemeal rolls
12 slim multi seed bagels
1 wholemeal farmhouse loaf, sliced
6 wholemeal pittas
6 organic eggs
500g brie
4 billionaire crumble mince pies
4 limoncello mince pies
1 bottle Heinz Monkey Fried Chicken Sauce
1.8kg gluten free Bisto gravy.
12 Devils on Horseback
2 salmon fillets
300g carrot and swede mash
goose fat Maris Piper potato tray
spinach falafels
700g pork sausage meat.

Plus, I got in a good walk, some resistance weight training with those heavy bags, and I'm on chapter 21 of Richard Osman's The Impossible Fortune. It really is a long walk!

wishus

Husband came home last night and he was and is hungry!
We enjoyed a nice chicken dinner with me thinking we'd get another 2 meals out of the chicken, but as he has been munching it as a snack, possibly only the one.

This was the plan:

Breakfasts: bagels, toasts or porridge. Toppings, butter, jam, marmalade, egg, marmite
lunches: sandwiches/toasties/crackers. Cheese, hummus, beans.

Dinners: 
Monday - roast chicken dinner, carrots, broccoli, kohlrabi, gravy
Tuesday - creamy cajun chicken and rice, carrots
Wednesday - chicken stir fry if there's any chicken left OR cauliflower cheese pasta.
Thursday - aloo gobi and rice, with parsnip pakora
Friday - salmon and potatoes, mixed veg
Saturday - bean burgers, salad, wedges, monkey sauce.
Sunday - pork chops, potatoes, mixed veg.

Sent off a couple of work queries.

Heard back that I will find out at the weekend if I have some part time hours in a kitchen.

The heating is on manual now because it is so cold. Thermostat downstairs said 14, so fair enough.

4 books finished this year so far, but won't have the time to myself to read so much now.

wishus

My trip to the eco shop has seen us replenish our stocks with these goodies:

Small wholemeal bread Seeded loaf Basil pot 200g Organic spinach 200g Rainbow chard 3 spring onions 500g Chantennay carrots 500g turnips 2 swede 200g fine green beans 2.5kg baking potatoes 2kg white potatoes 500g carrots Small red cabbage Spice tailor southern chettinad curry 100g Graze Peri Peri crunch 100g sesame seeds 50g anchovies in oil 2 Capri sun 1kg onions 2 little gem lettuce 500g brandy sauce 400g Chicken soup 400g Leek and potato soup 700ml Seedlip Monkey sauce Skinny chip shop curry sauce 2 low fat beef burgers Vitasia chicken croquettes Sweet potato falafels Chimichurri pumpkin and sweet potato Pork pie Crispy potato waffle fries Caramelised onion scotch egg

I have tried price matching to Tesco prices as best as I could, and granted some things would be on offer, but I believe I have saved about £85 on this shop. 

Could I have afforded an £85 shop? Not at all. This place is a lifesaver. 
To think, this was all stuff the supermarkets would have chucked otherwise.

wishus

A long time with no reporting, and I really feel like I need all the resources MSE can offer now.

I've been so lucky. The work has been gradually increasing, and I've had help from BIPC at the library. I've gained yet more skills, including a basic hygiene level 2 cert, which helps with the kitchen hours (I got them). I have a fair few strings to my bow.

I'm nowhere near the sea yet, but I've kept the house going. Need to manage my outgoings a bit better, especially as prices are rising. I sorted out my fuel switch today, and I'm waiting for a delivery before heading to the shops. I have plenty of work to be getting on with, and have been switching tasks to manage the feeling of melted brains in this heat.

foxgloves

Hello Wishus,

I'm going to follow your diary as we are also in an East Midlands town (well, a village right on the edge of one) & we are also planning to relocate to the seaside. It will be about 4 to 5 years for us (unless Agent Millions comes knocking!) as that's when Mr F is planning to retire (being the younger half of the relationship). So as the resident Budgeter-in-Chief, I'm working on building our savings, keeping a lid on outgoings, especially unplanned ones which are a menace, & taking the occasional look online at properties for sale in the area we would most like to live. I find that quite motivating but it makes Mr F wish we could sell up & move now, which we can't. Was not at all happy that we had to have a new roof in January. What a start to a year that was going to be all about saving! But there were multiple issues with the old roof - original 1930s - & I think had we left it, we may probably have stood to lose more money when we come to sell than what we paid for re-roofing.

Anyway, good luck with your seaside dream. The East Midlands is a long way inland for lovers of the coast, that's for sure!

F

wishus

Thank you so much @foxgloves!

Honestly, I think these things are sent to try us. I watch videos of frugal YouTubers every month talking about their 'sinking funds' and remember when I had those, but those funds have now been sunk. I want to start building them up again.

May was hugely spendy, unfortunately. I got a payment from my husband's account today and he's had to claw some back. I haven't even put in all my bills money to my main account yet, so I'm going to have to make sure I do before the weekend.

Much to his chagrin, we have a few promised social things in June, too. Going to have to work out how we can manage these and maybe turn some down, which we would hate to do as our friends deserve the support. But if we can't, we can't.

Husband is also keen on losing weight this month and embarking on a healthy-eating plan. He has talked me into joining him. After many years of me leading the way on this sort of thing, it's the other way round now, and I know how important support is to success. He may have sabotaged me in the past, but he does tend to get single-minded on things and hyper-focused, and maybe that will help both of us. I downloaded the Nutracheck app with him, only to have to point out that it wasn't free after 7 days, so we have the free version of MyFitnessPal instead. We've also acquired some kettle weights from the chazza, and have links to some YouTube exercises for those.

In order to keep the budget low, I'm planning meals that fit in with my nutritionist's recommendations, and are on the Tesco website, so should be easy to log.

Breakfasts: wholemeal toast, avocado, tomato or banana and almond butter porridge

Lunch: sardine/mackerel/cheese salad

Dinners:

Monday

Hasselback Caprese Chicken with broccoli:

Tuesday Chicken and mango chutney traybake

Wednesday Butternut and Black bean burritos

Thursday Sausage and pea risotto

Friday Fish tacos and salad

Saturday pasta with greens and anchovies.